5 Steps to Overcome Your Fears

The world can be a scary place. As we go through our daily lives, we face many challenges, and often these challenges can bring about fear. We may fear the loss of something, or perhaps the lack of fulfillment. We may experience fear when going on a job interview or a first date. The greatest challenge with fear is that it can hold us back from achieving our goals, but it doesn’t have to.

Here are 5 easy steps to overcome your fears!

1. Journal Your Fears

Put your fears down on paper if you aren’t comfortable talking them out with a friend. Write everything you can about them. What are they? How big do they feel? How do they make you feel? How long have you had them? What have they been keeping you from accomplishing? In a perfect world, what would your life be like if you didn’t have these fears? Why do you think you have these fears in the first place? It’s important to explore all aspects of your fears. Get to know them. They’re the enemy, and you can’t conquer an enemy if you know very little about it.

2. Make a Plan

Now that you know the ins and outs of your fears, it’s time to make your plan of attack. Conquering a fear is like any other goal—it seems less overwhelming if you take small steps to achieve the desired outcome. Think about what you can do day-to-day. Think about small, actionable tasks that will get you closer to a more fearless life. Make a list and work towards completing a step every day. Every completed task will build your confidence.

3. Think About the Day After

When you hit a roadblock (and chances are, you will), it’s easy to give up and retreat. Don’t do that. Instead, think about the day after you reach your goal of conquering your fears. What is that going to feel like for you? Amazing! Liberating! Enlightening! Empowering! Those are the feelings you need to focus on.

4. Get Some Help

You don’t have to conquer your fears alone if you don’t want to. Enlist the help of friends, family, coworkers or a partner—whoever you think would provide a good support system. They’ll also hold you accountable. And chances are they have have some fears of their own they’d like to conquer. You can help support them along their journey, while they work to support you!

5. Take a Small Step

Your fears are huge and significant, so they won’t be conquered in a day, week, month or maybe even a year. That’s okay. Take some pressure off yourself and just focus on making a small change. Just take one small step towards conquering your fears in 2016. And if it feels good, keep going.